Potter's House

By Mary Giunca

JOURNAL REPORTER

Published: April 13, 2009

The ground was fallow and more than a little soggy in the three lots along Claremont Avenue.

But to the 100 souls who gathered there at dawn yesterday, the site in Northeastern Winston-Salem represents a rebirth of sorts, where the new Potter's House Family Resource Center will soon rise.

"You're standing on holy ground," the Rev. John Young, told the crowd assembled for an Easter Sunrise Service. Young runs the Potter's House with his wife, Pansy.

As darkness gave way to light, John Young sketched his vision for the Potter's House, as a place of refuge in a neighborhood that has struggled with crime, poverty and housing ills.

"I command every foul spirit that has lived in this land, ‘You are welcome to go now,'" he said.

The Potter's House, which exists only on an architect's drawing board, will have a commercial kitchen, classrooms and community space that can hold 150 people.

The building will cost about $500,000, which the Youngs expect to raise through fundraisers, grants and private donations.

The Youngs opened their first Potter's House in a neat bungalow around the corner from the new site in 1998.

John Young, a former Winston-Salem police officer, wanted to help people before they got arrested. He and his wife left their home on the north side of the city because they wanted to become part of the community, not just minister to it as outsiders.

The Potter's House became known as a refuge, where help was provided with a non-judgmental attitude and a caring spirit.

There was food for the hungry, clothing for the ragged and spiritual sustenance for the needy souls who often found their way there.

But last year the Potter's House ran afoul of city zoning and building regulations and the ministry closed.

The need, however, remains.

"They have a heart for the lost," said Doug Todd. "They're in a part of the city that most people will not come to."

Todd is a member of the River Oaks Community Church in Clemmons, which has supported the Potter's House for several years.

He had never been to the neighborhood around the Potter's House until the summer of 2007, Todd said. He was part of a church group that spent two weeks at the ministry, building a deck and putting in landscaping.

The Youngs' humble spirit impressed him, Todd said. John Young's gift for preaching could have carried him far beyond 25th Street.

"He could be making gobs of money, but he's right here," Todd said.

For both Youngs, the closing of the first Potter's House was a time of doubt and questioning. Each of them said that they dealt with the loss in different ways.

"Some people may say, ‘It was just a house,' but it was so much more," Pansy Young said. "John and I spent 10 or 11 years there trying to meet the needs of the people."

Young said that people talked to her about doors closing and new ones opening. They urged her to move on.

"For days I wanted to sit and do nothing," she said. There's no funeral, there's no body, no clergy."

But she said she felt like she was at a wake anyway.

John Young said that he didn't know how to reach his wife and that his urge was to focus on the process of rebuilding and not get caught up in the emotions -- although he had his own anger and frustration to work through.

"In ministry the scrap pile of wounded is very high," he said. "Many burn out and never come back."

He said that he didn't want him and his wife to be among the wounded.

The Youngs lived off the rent from their former home and what John Young brought in as a pastor and as a teacher at the Winston-Salem Street School. He has a degree from the Wake Forest University Divinity School.

Once when the Youngs were talking to someone about the neighborhood, that person, who had no idea of the couple's history said, "People in this neighborhood have lost their hope. There used to be a place called the Potter's House that gave people hope."

It was depressing to hear their ministry so casually spoken of as dead and gone, the couple said.

With the coming of spring, the Youngs said that they began to feel ready to move on. They started looking for a new location for their ministry.

They found a promising lot on Newark Street. A friend told the Youngs it was too rocky.

"The Lord said, ‘I'll build my church upon this rock,'" Young told his friend.

"Not this rock," his friend told Young.

Last fall, Young was standing in the backyard of the house where he and his wife live in the 1200 block of E. 25th Street. He realized that there were several vacant lots across the street along Claremont Avenue.

The lots were owned by the city, Habitat for Humanity and a former neighborhood church, he said. He entered into negotiations to buy the lots and by early March, the Youngs had bought all of the lots with private donations.

Many people in the community have come forward to help, the couple said.

In the face of all of the support they've gotten, their doubts about their ability to continue their ministry have disappeared.

The couple said they look forward to ministering to people in the new location just like they did in the old one.

Tiffany Clagett said she and the other former clients called the Youngs "Aunt Pansy and Uncle John" because they were like family.

"When I walked into her home, I immediately felt comfortable. She eased my mind that everything was going to be OK," Clagett said of Pansy Young.

Clagett met the couple last year when she wanted her daughter to attend a Vacation Bible School that the Youngs were running at a local church. Not only did the Youngs help her afford the camp, but they kept in touch once summer was over. During Thanksgiving and Christmas, they helped provide part of her holiday meals and put her in touch with local agencies that could provide toys, clothing and other help.

Mattie Young, who attended yesterday's service, has long been informally known as the Mayor of Cleveland Avenue for her many years of community work in the Cleveland Avenue housing community. She has seen people come in the neighborhood and seen them go.

"A lot of people want to help and get themselves rich," she said.

Not the Youngs, she said.

"They're the sweetest people you'll ever meet," she said. "When people see that someone cares, they want to do better themselves."

? Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .